Thomas Church
Author of #1 Best Seller, Money's Big Secret and Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk

THE BLOG

How to Invest for Uncertainty - The Buck Does Not Stop at Brexit

01/07/2016 16:43 BST
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Updated
01/07/2017 10:12 BST

The buck does not stop at Brexit.

Attention has been focused on ourselves as of late but Brexit is not the only trouble in Europe.

You may have missed it. In June, Spain had their national election. It was their second in six months.

The first, in December 2015, failed to create a new Government. There was no clear majority.

The second, on Sunday 26th June, also failed. Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the conservative People's Party (PP) won the most seats, but failed to win a majority nor create a coalition. Parliament is in disarray.

Spain's public deficit (how much the Government is spending above that which it is receiving in tax receipts) has grown to 5.2%. This is above the 4.2% agreed EU target. It's problem of debt is growing.

Unemployment has grown again to 21%. Amongst young adults (14-28) it's 45%. That's almost half an entire generation without savings, investments or pension contributions. A ticking time-bomb. But there's more.

Brexit was cause for cheer for many in Britain, and also across Europe.

Marine Le Pen, leader of France's National Front party, said, "If I win the presidential election, there will be a referendum."

As of recent polls, her party stands to be the second biggest in France.

Furthermore, The Pew Research Center opinion polls found that Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France and Greece all have similar levels of support to leave the EU as Britain did before the vote:

Within the next two years, every single one of these countries have a national election coming. All of these are potential for further EU turmoil.

No one can predict what will happen.

So when it comes to looking after your investments you need to think wider than the UK and wider than Europe. As I wrote in How to Invest Post-Brexit, you need to maintain a well diversified portfolio:

Many countries

Many sectors

Many asset classes

In my #1 Personal Finance best seller, Money's Big Secret, I show you two simple ways to do this.

The easiest is with a direct debit to Nutmeg.com. They automatically diversify your money. You can set and forget.

The second option is with a Vanguard LifeStrategy fund, available through Hargreaves Lansdown. On the day of the EU referendum results, this actually grew in value by 0.55%.

The future is uncertain, the key is not to try and outsmart it. Put your fingers in many pies.

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Tom Church is author of #1 Amazon Best Seller, Money's Big Secret and life hacking blogger.